Amid violent riots in France, the two main police unions have declared in a written statement that France is in a civil war and warned the government that once the rule of law is restored, the police will be in the “resistance” against the government.
In a remarkable, strongly worded statement posted on social media on June 30, the Alliance Police Nationale and UNSA wrote: “Today the police are in combat because we are at war, tomorrow we will be in resistance and the government should realize that.”
France has fallen. pic.twitter.com/Z5F1MJVbd3
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) July 3, 2023
🇨🇵 The biggest library in Marseilles, Alcazar. Classics dating back to the ancient world. Gone forever.
Why would generational French citizens want to burn down such an historical treasure?
Could the liberal left wing Marxists, provide the answer? pic.twitter.com/RZbHuVijdZ
— Frantruth 🇬🇧 (@frantruth) July 1, 2023
The French government announced on Friday that it was putting some 45,000 police on duty to combat the rioters, Fox News reported. The violence erupted following the death of an Algerian teenager.
Police pulled over the teenager in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday morning during a traffic stop.
An officer appeared to shoot Nahel as the car suddenly pulls away, traveling only a short distance before crashing, with Nahel dying at the scene. Police took the offending officer into custody and opened an investigation into charges of voluntary manslaughter, with charges brought against him on Friday.
Reuters reported that, in an interview with French television, the police officer’s lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, said his client had aimed at the driver’s leg but was bumped when the car took off, causing him to shoot toward his chest. “Obviously (the officer) didn’t want to kill the driver,” he said according to the report.
Since Tuesday some 200 police officers have been injured. The number of people arrested as of Sunday morning had grown to more than 3,000, with another 150 arrests made overnight into Monday as the rioting seemed to ease.
Sunday night, Dorian Damelincourt, a young fireman reportedly died of heart attack as he tried to extinguish a fierce blaze in an underground parking garage in the suburb of Saint-Denis, just north of Paris.
“Overnight, while fighting against a blaze involving several vehicles in an underground car park in Saint-Denis, a young Corporal-Chief of the Paris Fire Brigade died despite very rapid treatment by his teammates,” said Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Tribute to this 24-year-old French firefighter Dorian Damelincourt who died yesterday while trying to extinguish a fire started by the terrorist mob in Saint-Denis. pic.twitter.com/NiXUOBtW24
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) July 3, 2023
The police unions said in their message that the police must be allowed to crack down hard on the rioters to take back control of the streets.
“Facing these savage hordes, asking for calm is no longer enough, it must be imposed!” the message reads. “Restoring the republican order and putting the apprehended beyond the capacity to harm should be the only political signals to give. In the face of such exactions, the police family must stand together. Our colleagues, like the majority of citizens, can no longer bear the tyranny of these violent minorities.”
The statement made clear that all options must be on the table to restore order.
“The time is not for union action, but for combat against these ‘pests.’ Surrendering, capitulating, and pleasing them by laying down arms are not the solutions in light of the gravity of the situation,” the unions said. All means must be put in place to restore the rule of law as quickly as possible.”
We're truly witnessing a radicalization on both sides in France.
This is an unreal communiqué by the main French police unions, essentially declaring France is in a civil war and that the police is in the "resistance" against the government.
This is the translation:
"Now… pic.twitter.com/4Q7F0O39TC
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) July 1, 2023
Former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon reportedly condemned the police unions’ statement, tweeting that “unions calling for civil war should learn to keep quiet.”
According to Fox News, however, “the dramatic statement” may have jolted French President Emmanuel Macron to embrace a “more hawkish” response to the widespread anarchy and violence.
Macron was criticized last week for dancing at an Elton John concert in Paris while France was being decimated by the rioting hordes.